Library
Field Notes
Field Notes are publicly available reflections from ACRES KEPT — plain writing on the questions families face when land, legacy, and future decisions come together.
Vol. 13 · Family Land & Stewardship Readiness · 5–6 min read · October 2026
Keeping family land costs money. Property taxes, upkeep, income, reserves, and clear expectations help families share the responsibility of sustaining the land they want to keep.
Family Land & Ownership Readiness · 5–6 min read · October 2026
Keeping family land may require changing how ownership is organized. Agreements, deed consolidation, LLCs, trusts, and succession planning can help families make that structure intentional.
Family Land & Ownership Readiness · 5–6 min read · October 2026
One heir wanting to sell does not automatically mean the whole property must be sold. Shared ownership, buyouts, partition, valuation, and preparation shape what happens next.
Family Land & Ownership Readiness · 5–6 min read · September 2026
Shared ownership changes decision-making. Understanding who owns the land, who has authority to act, and what the family wants can make every future decision more deliberate.
Land Use & Stewardship · 5–6 min read · September 2026
A lease does more than set rent — it gives someone else the right to use the land. Use, condition, conservation value, financial terms, written expectations, and authority to sign are what the agreement should protect.
Conservation & Land Stewardship · 5–6 min read · September 2026
EQIP, CSP, and CRP can help a family share the cost of work that strengthens the land over time — but the program should follow the land's needs, not the other way around.
Land Evaluation & Steward Readiness · 5–6 min read · September 2026
Good stewardship begins by learning to see the land as it is. Five practical lenses — soil, water, usable acreage, access, and surroundings — for evaluating acreage before the vision becomes a commitment.
Land Use & Family Wealth · 5–6 min read · August 2026
Land does not have to be sold—or farmed by the family itself—to contribute economically. Five possibilities families may want to understand before deciding land must be sold to create value.
Land Use & Stewardship · 5–6 min read · August 2026
Productive land is not always cultivated land. Soil, water, timber, slope, and access determine what an acre is suited to do — and the strongest land-use decisions begin with suitability, not assumption.
Family Land & Decision Readiness · 5–6 min read · August 10, 2026
Documents do not make decisions — families do. Five questions about ownership, current use, purpose, structure, and the cost of doing nothing that help a family choose deliberately rather than react.
Land Ownership & Family Readiness · 5–6 min read · August 2026
Memory and legal ownership are not always the same thing. Five records — the deed, the survey, the tax records, the estate documents, and the agreements — help a family understand what it actually owns before a major decision arrives.
Land Ownership & Family Security · 5–6 min read · July 27, 2026
Farmland values continue to rise, but greater market value does not automatically make a family more secure. Clear ownership, informed decision-making, and long-term planning determine whether appreciating land becomes lasting family strength.
A Letter · 3 min read · Vol. 01
Family land carries more than acreage. It carries memory, identity, responsibility, and possibility — and too many families reach a critical decision without the information they need.
